Bound to Yesterday
by LDP88
Summary: In dark places, in warm memories, in the bend of our common path you are bound to me, and I...I am bound to yesterday. Part II of Lost to Tomorrow. S/r Rated: M
1. Prologue Kuzumeha the Entertainer

Author's Note: For anyone interested in reading this story, you MUST read Lost to Tomorrow or you will not understand Bound to Yesterday. Below is the Prologue. I hope you enjoy it. :)

 _Glossary_

 _Ageya - A Japanese tea house run by yarite and oiran for the entertainment of male customers._

 _Dai-yokai - A demon who has attained great power through battle, usually noble born, but not always._

 _Hashi - Chopsticks._

 _Kiseru - A long smoking pipe._

 _Kokina-yokai - A noble born demon, who holds no specific power._

 _Koma-geta - Extremely tall wooden shoes (related to geta) worn by oiran._

 _Oiran - Highclass Japanese courtesans._

 _Shamisen - A traditional Japanese three-strings lute._

 _Taikomochi - A male entertainer in an Ageya. Often considered a male counterpart to a female geisha._

 _Tayu - The highest rank of oiran._

 _Yarite - Retired oiran who manage tea houses._

 _Yujo - A common prostitute._

* * *

Bound to Yesterday

* * *

Prologue ~ Kuzumeha the Entertainer

* * *

Yoshiwara, Edo, 1722

* * *

"You're just going to have to eat it."

Her stomach turned and her mouth went dry. Melon was disgusting. The _ageya_ never kept any, and now she, Kuzumeha, an established, three-tailed, _kitsune-tayu_ was expected to suffer it.

Over Mama Ashi's head she could see one of the _ageya_ child-maids holding a plate of melon. The little _kitsune_ , she only had one tail as of yet, was biting her lip. It was a bad habit that would have to be corrected. She looked like a rabbit, and no one was attracted to that sort of thing.

Fixing the little maid with a harsh look, she made a " _tst!_ " sound through her teeth. This was her own bad habit. She felt a harsh slap on her wrist and grimaced. Already tall for her sex, in her _koma-geta_ , Kuzumeha towered over the _ageya_ mistress, but there was no intimidating Mama Ashi.

"Don't you dare do that in front of the great guest! He has chosen you. Feel lucky."

Kuzumeha did indeed feel lucky. This was the _dai-yokai's_ third visit and she still wasn't sure whether he actually liked her. After his first evening with her, there was little confidence in the house that he would return.

The night had been marred by a mistake that neither she, nor her _yarite_ could have predicted. Most customers enjoyed watching her smoke from her _kiseru_. It put them in the mood for what she offered.

But apparently _inu-yokai_ did not enjoy the smell. While his disinterest had seemed almost palpable to Kuzumeha before she'd lit the pipe, his abrupt departure had been surprising to her and especially Mama Ashi.

Two entire seasons had passed before he'd come for the second visit. That evening had gone much better. He'd made no reference to their past mishap.

Instead he'd listened to her singing and watched her dance. Remembering that night, Kuzumeha had tried to comfort herself with the knowledge that he'd returned to her. There had to be something she was doing right.

Her toes curled as she stepped out into the long hallway. Her feet were bare, the skin of her toes white.

"Like mama's milk," she thought, and hoped he would like it.

She'd grown accustomed to maintaining the spell of human appearance for certain guests.

Mama Ashi had done her research. They knew who the great lord came from.

While the _kitsune-tayu_ of the Rei-no-Kaoku only accepted _kokina-yokai_ as clientele, _dai-yokai_ , especially those descended from _inu-yokai_ , were rare visitors. The fact that he had decided to patronize the Rei-no-Kaoku and not the Kishin-no-Chaya in Shimabara was not well known and frankly surprising.

Sliding the shoji door open, she slid out of the _koma-geta_ and shuffled to kneel elegantly at her guest's side. He sat rigid, sipping his tea, his white mokomoko curling around him.

"Sesshomaru-sama, I am honored by your visit."

Kuzumeha did not look up as she said this. She waited for his response, and when he told her to join him, she rose to a seated position. There was a short pause, and then to her surprise, he said, "Tell me how you have been."

Shocked he would deign to ask her about herself, she gave him a well-practiced smile and answered, "You honor me, my lord, but you should already know, I have been ever so unhappy."

Sesshomaru took another sip of his tea.

"How so?" he asked.

"Well, I am only truly happy when you grace our house with your presence."

"Huh," he replied, voice flat, and took another sip of his tea.

Unfazed, Kuzumeha picked up her _shamisen_ and made to start a song. She knew the exact song she would sing. It was the story of Fukuyemon and his fertile wife. She had just reached her favorite part—the young bride was being led through a shower of rain with the sun blessing her happiness overhead—when Sesshomaru stopped her.

He held up two fingers, white claws glowing in the candle light, mouth set in a firm line, and her _shamisen_ gave an awkward clang. Quickly muffling the strings with her palm, she asked, "Yes, my lord?"

It was difficult keeping her smile unstrained.

He glanced at her bare feet and then said, "If I wanted someone to sing poorly, I would have gone to a human _yujo_."

Kuzumeha felt the air escape her lungs.

It was as if he'd just slapped her across the face. Everyone loved her singing, and he'd never objected to her voice before. She half expected him to stand up and leave, but he sat before her, staring at her in stern resignation.

With a slight tremble in her voice, she asked, "What would you like me to do for you instead, my lord?"

The _dai-yokai_ never looked away. He tilted his head to the side, and sat tall and straight, kingly and cold to Kuzumeha's eye. The silence in the room stretched and she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. He looked like he was making some sort of decision. Then he held his hand out to her and beckoned her near.

Edging her way closer to him, she felt suddenly dumb. A little fox trotting before the wild dog.

While alive, her mother had always warned her of such things.

"Why does your heart race, Kuzumeha? Do I frighten you?" he asked, sliding his fingers under her hair.

Gripping the back of her neck, he traced his thumb, claw sharp and hard, along the underside of her jaw. Her skin felt tingly as if it was reacting to some sudden shock. It was a little painful, but she couldn't help closing her eyes and parting her lips to sigh.

Mama Ashi had warned her of his poison.

But she was a professional - she knew to be careful.

Her eyes snapped open, and ashamed at her display, she tried to smile, "Of course not, my lord. I am in all anticipation of your pleasure."

He exhaled and tilted her head to the side, frowning. Claws pressed into her soft, powdered skin. She swallowed and he watched.

"So be it."

For a moment she felt a genuine pang of curiosity. Maybe they would simply start, and she wouldn't have to eat the melon Mama Ashi had brought for her. Maybe he'd forgotten.

She felt him draw her close. His right hand slid around to press against her lower back. He leaned in and sniffed just under her ear. Kuzumeha braced her hand against his chest.

In order to enter the teahouse, he'd been required to remove all armor and weaponry.

There was nothing between her and his steady heartbeat.

And truly, there was nothing between her and his claws.

Sword or no sword, armour or no armour, Kuzumeha knew her ambition to entertain this _dai yokai_ was a dance with death.

His muscles were hard under his fine silks. The room had grown hot and heavy.

It was worth the risk.

She let her hand edge down to his lap, but he stopped her.

"I want you to do something for me," he said against her ear instead. His voice was low, steady, almost a whisper, like he was telling her a secret.

She felt his grip around the back of her neck tighten, his claws playing with the little hairs at the nape of her neck.

"What can your little fox do for you, Sesshomaru-sama?" She answered, trying to make her voice sound teasing.

She felt him let her go, and for a moment she was confused. She thought he would have asked her to pleasure him. Maybe _inu-yokai_ did it differently. She already knew they seldom kissed.

She had heard, smell was their true vice.

In fact, she knew of at least one such example—a _Shimabara-tayu_ by the name of Kuzunomai. Everyone thought she was uncommonly ugly for a she-demon in service, but somehow, she had attracted a noble born _inu-yokai_ _dana_. He was from the northern-most mountains, and her cunning was already now a well-known secret among the more light mouthed of the _kitsune-taikos_.

Apparently she and her _yarite_ had gone through the extraordinary effort of secretly importing spring water from her _dana_ 's home region in the North. The _tayu_ had made it a habit to bathe in it immediately prior to each of his visits.

According to Kuzumeha's sources, he was violently in love with her. And even more scandalous, it was said that he liked the spring water so much because it reminded him of his mother.

The noble _inu-yokai_ certainly had strange ways.

Kuzumeha shuddered and looked up at her guest's hard mouth. He was gesturing to the tray of sliced melon next to him. Her heart sank. Nodding, she swallowed and edged her way over to the wooden platter. With practiced elegance, she took a pair of _hashi_ in hand, and reached for a slice of melon.

"No," he objected. "With your hands."

His voice was low, hushed.

She paused and with a strained smile, placed the _hashi_ back on the tray and picked up a melon piece with her fingers. It felt sticky and alien in her grasp. She hadn't eaten anything with her hands since she was a very little fox in the woodlin brush.

Then looking to Sesshomaru for approval, she realized that he was, for the first time, giving her his full attention. He wasn't moving. She couldn't even tell if he was breathing.

Unlike before, when his mind was clearly off somewhere else, he was now completely in the room with her. She was the center of it all. It would have been overwhelming if she hadn't been such a practiced entertainer.

Glancing at the melon between her clawed fingertips, she realized that the distasteful fruit was her key. Maybe he liked she-demons who ate such fruit.

How particular.

Her eyes met his and ever so slowly she bit into the red melon.

"Just eat it," he commanded with a frown.

He then leaned back into his mokomoko and watched her from under hooded eyes as she grimaced through the five or so pieces of red melon on her platter.

Somehow, she felt dirtier eating in front of him than if he had asked her to undress. It took several long minutes to finish the tray, but finally, hands sticky and red, the task was done and she asked, "Is there anything else, my lord would ask of me?"

"Come here," he beckoned her with one clawed finger.

She obliged him and soon was lying next to him waiting for his next instruction. His mokomoko's fur was remarkably soft.

He looked at her and again she felt like he was making a decision.

Kuzumeha would not, until many a year later, fully understand why Sesshomaru, an _inu-yokai_ , a _dai-yokai_ , made his next request.

"I want you to kiss me."

Her heart quickened and Sesshomaru's eyes darkened. "Yes, my lord," she replied breathlessly, leaning in. She puckered her lips and pressed them gently against his. She repeated the motion several times, slowly, softly. His lips were cool, and he made no effort to reciprocate.

He simply leaned back and let her embrace him. Eyes closed.

Kuzumeha smiled.

Softly, she touched his face, and Sesshomaru made a soft sound of approval.

 _I've done something right,_ she thought, giddy.

There was now a distinct possibility that this visit would turn into something pleasurable for her.

She was _kitsune_. She loved kissing.

She laughed, and pressed her puckered, painted lips against the corner of his mouth, against his chin, his upper lip. She giggled and was about to lick his bottom lip, when she felt his hand clasp her chin, opening her mouth to him.

 _He's kissed before..._ the words flitted through her mind.

He pressed up against her then in a persistent kiss, tasting her lips, her tongue, and forcing a breathy gasp from her exposed throat.

She heard him inhale.

He shifted her beneath him, long white hair draping over her.

Her naked, powdered toes curled against his soft silk. She opened her eyes and saw that his were closed and his nostrils were flared. He was hard against her hip, and she wondered if it was due to her practiced kisses or that damned melon.

Its smell was heavy and distasteful between them.

He clasped the back of her neck, pressed one more kiss into her waiting mouth and let go. Kuzumeha watched with interest as he opened his eyes; he seemed reluctant. She had the distinct impression he did not want to see her below him.

As his eyes met her own, she wondered at how he could look so resigned and aroused at the same time.

They ended the visit, with him requesting she perform a dance. A _kitsune-taikomochi_ was called in and she performed two dances for her lord. Before the third song could commence, Sesshomaru took his leave.

He did not return for several months.

In that time, Kuzumeha often pondered over his strange requests.

What about the melon entertained him so?

What of that kiss?

Why did he come to her, come for her embrace, if he did not want to look upon her when she held him?

She hoped he would come again.

* * *

 _The Cold Season..._

* * *

Tomiko blushed as she sat behind the screen with Momo-chan, Rika-chan and Mama Ashi.

The girls were there to run for the tea and learn the high art of entertaining the customer.

Mama Ashi glowered down at them all, chewing with her old lips and her old teeth on her old pipe from however many centuries ago. She was there for no purpose at all...that Tomiko could guess.

Momo snickered into her hand as the sound of Kuzumeha's sigh and gasp came from beyond the screen. Mama Ashi's eyes widened menacingly.

Tomiko understood just how cruel the old fox could be. Momo had yet to learn.

All the girls were renamed when they arrived at the _ageya_. Tomiko's birth name from far off in her field under the mountain had been Kiku. Now that she was being trained in the tea house, she was in deep debt to Mama Ashi. So the old fox had renamed her Tomiko, laughing at the fortune the little beauty owed her.

Almost none of the _kitsune_ - _tayu,_ not even Kuzumeha herself, were fully out of debt to the _yarite_. The older _kitsune_ often spoke of Mama Ashi's ability to lengthen what one owed.

Tomiko looked down at her little fingers on her lap. Her kimono was plain, unnoticeable as a maid's should be. She wondered if she would truly ever wear the fine silks she watched Kuzumeha dawn night after night.

Would she ever look so stunning?

Another gasp fluttered through the screen.

Mama Ashi nodded with approval, smiling to herself.

Kuzumeha was with the honored costumer again, and the visit seemed to be going well.

Maybe Kuzumeha was so happy whenever the _dai-yokai_ came because he could pay off her debt. Tomiko could not fathom any other reason.

To be honest, she quite feared the noble demon who seemed to enjoy her mistress' company.

He was cold and distant. Tomiko had heard tales of his merciless lust for death. Through the lands his strength was known.

When this Lord Sesshomaru came to the Rei-no-Kaoku he was all anyone could speak of. The older maids who would never be _tayu_ , the _tayu_ themselves, and especially Mama Ashi spent days arguing over preparations. Tomiko had sat through countless arguments over the watermelon he requested.

She and Rika had taken to whispering dirty jokes about the watermelon to each other in the midnight shadows between their bed rolls. One of the older maids had heard their not-so-innocent musings one night and told Mama Ashi.

The old fox had beaten the girls with tree switches set ablaze by the breath of one of the _taiko-mochi's_. He had laughed while the little girls screamed in pain, and when Rika later asked him why he had done so, he'd explained he was happy. At the girls' shock and shouts he'd exclaimed, "Why not rejoice, when if the great _dai_ - _yokai_ customer had heard your little jokes, you would have been struck with whips of death, not friendly fox fire?"

His words had so chilled Tomiko, that now, as she listened to Kuzumeha's sighs and moans, and smelled the hint of watermelon and love making in the air, she could not think to laugh as Momo did.

Mama Ashi gave her an approving look. Then her eyes widened and she pinched Tomiko's nose, hard, between two knuckles. This was the old _kitsune's_ way of getting the girl to stop biting her lip.

Tomiko licked her lips and straightened her back, eyes on the floor in obedience.

In the dark, churning light of the chamber, the four _kitsune_ sat together then, in silence, waiting for their mistress to end her dance before the great dog.

Waiting for the performance to end.

* * *

Preview: Chapter I

Of Masks and Egos

"She...went with him."


	2. Chapter I Of Masks and Egos

**Author's Note: Read and enjoy. PLEASE REVIEW!**

Glossary

 _Ishikawa -_ A Japanese name sometimes defined as "stone river."

* * *

Chapter I. ~ Of Masks and Egos

* * *

Musashi Province, 1479…

* * *

 _In the hot season before the wolves came..._

* * *

The grass was wet. Water droplets seeped through Rin's dirty _yukata_ cooling her skin in the afternoon sun. Bright white, mammoth clouds drifted high above her. She could feel the wet blades prick into the backs of her hands.

A bird was circling high above them. Wings wide. Black against blue.

Hachi had forced her to eat that morning. He'd laughed the first couple days when she'd followed him, but refused food. Now he seemed on a mission to keep her alive.

" _Ishiiiiiiii_ —!" he called from the stream, raising his hand for an expert's strike.

"— _kawa_!"

With a splash, the little old man, dirt encrusted as much into his ragged _yukata_ as his wrinkled face, rose grinning. Rin stared into the wet blackness where his teeth should have been.

She remembered the crunch and sob of Jiro's teeth breaking against the bandit's heel.

 _Big brother..._ Rin thought as Hachi waved the flapping fish through the air.

Light danced off its wet scales.

The sky was bright above her. The clouds were white, full with mist and grace. The flowers were blooming.

 _Papa used a rod, but Hachi uses his hands_ …

"Haha! Little ghost! Look! Look!"

Rin met Hachi's gaze dully. He was holding the fish, squirming in his knobby fists. She felt a pang of annoyance as he pinched the fish's jaw and began to force its mouth open and shut.

"Look look! He's ye, girl! Look he talks just like ye!"

With each squeeze of his blackened fingers, its gaping mouth made an empty pop.

Rin slumped back and rolled on her side. The grass was soft and sharp against her cheek.

"Ooooh some little ghosties be quiet, like ye, fish. Oh SHUT UP! And some ghosties be loud."

Hachi was talking to the fish behind her. He did that often. Spoke to things that could not speak. Spoke to things that were not there. He would speak to the fish as he took its scales, and took its bones. He would speak to the pot as it stewed. And he would speak to the air as if it held old friends and new acquaintances. Slowly, Rin spread her fingers, staring at the soft lines in her skin. One of the bandits had cut her neighbor into pieces. His fingers strewn across the ground. Hachi had showed her.

" _Caaaaatch_!"

With a jolt, Rin squeaked as the wet, shining body of the fish slapped against her cheek. Cold water filled her ear, blocking out Hachi's snaggle-toothed peels of laughter. Face burning with anger, she leapt to her feet and grabbed a tuft of grass. Finger nails brown with dirt, she hurled it at Hachi.

The blades flurried futile through the air, fluttering to her feet, the dying fish slapping against her ankle. Its gills blinked a desperate red.

The little old man was doubled over on his hands and knees, his laughter now a long high-pitched wine. He was crawling toward Rin, a string of saliva swinging from his soft mouth, dipping ever closer to the water.

The spring rushed cold and clear around him as he sang, " _Ishi-kawa_! _Ishi-kawa_! _Ishi-kawa_!"

Rin stamped her foot in anger against his taunts, eyes brimming with tears.

She would not speak. Her family was gone. Ichiro was gone, but she'd promised him that day. He'd told her to be quiet. To not say a word. No matter what…not to speak.

Hachi was dancing now. Hopping from knobby foot to knobby foot. Tiny and stout.

She'd promised. They'd taken Ichiro's feet. For the sin of his stutter, they'd taken his tongue. More than anything she wanted to be with him again, hear his voice fumble over her name, just one more time.

The fish made no sound as she ground her heel down, forcing its innards out onto the soil.

" _Ishi-ishi-kawa_!" Hachi called again.

He began to whip his arms around, his cheeks ballooning with air, his voice whooshing like water's waves.

With a sharp gasp, Rin crouched down and grabbed the mass of guts and scales in her little fist. She could feel the water and slime ooze out as she wound her arm back and aimed.

" _Ishiiii..._ " Hachi teased, but his voice died as he saw their dinner sail over his head and back into the rushing stream.

"No! NO!" he screeched. "That's me and ghostie's food!"

Rin's ill-gotten happiness quickly faded, as the little man fell forward and crawled at surprising speed through the muck toward her. He slapped her hard across the face, forcing her to the ground.

"Little ghost, ye will learn! Ghostie thinks she's dead, but Hachi knows… I see what ye are...I've been where ye be!"

Rin closed her eyes, curling into herself. The grass felt cool. Last summer she and her brothers had stomped their way through it searching for bees and anthills. She'd cried that day from the stings. Jiro had laughed, and Ichiro had held her close. Her mother's hand on her rear that night had stung, but her father's hands in her hair had been so warm.

They were all gone now.

She could smell Hachi's acrid breath as he leaned in close, brushing her hair from her face. His long, blackened nails ran over her skin. He wiped his wet chin catching his breath.

"Little ghost," he continued with determination. "We will fish again. But ye must stop being _ishikawa_. Life will carry ye many places. Hachi knows this. But ye will let go first, little ghost. Let go. Don't stay with the dead."

Rin felt the little man's hand pat her back as he rose with a creak and a crack in his old bones.

Once he was well away, she rolled on her back, her stomach gurgling. Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes. The bird was still circling, high above them. Black point on vast blue. They were nothing to it.

Hachi was back in the water, clucking to himself.

 _Mama_ …

Rin squeezed her little hands into fists. She'd thrown rocks at the crows for days to get them off her. She'd kept her eyes, but her face had bloated as death took her.

Rin ate fish that night while Hachi smoked his pipe. Its smoke seeped in thin, grey tendrils through the darkness of his little hut under the bridge. As their fire cracked and popped in the blackness, he spoke of the many things they would do together. Of all the things he would teach her. Of all the things she kept within herself, and would one day let out. Of the name she kept secret that he could not see.

She ate again the next day, and the day after that.

On the third day, Rin woke to Hachi's dead body, brittle and papery next to her in the ashy soil. The villagers came and burned him once the smell of rot began to seep through the wooden boards of their little thruway.

When one of the village women tried to draw her out of the hut, Hachi's chiding words came back to Rin.

 _Don't stay with the dead,_ he'd said.

As the village woman's cooing voice filled the hut, luring Rin into the world outside, she stared at the fish bones and ashes scattered around her. Her footprints pitter-pattered over Hachi's throughout the hut—the prints small and bare in the dry soil. The old man's smoking pipe lay where his contorted body had slept just days before.

Rin met the village woman's gaze and drew away, silent.

She would stay here.

The dead were all she had.

* * *

 _Tokyo, 1989..._

* * *

 _Seeeeshoooomaaaruuuu...SeSSHOmaru…Sesshomaru!…Sesshomaru?_

The name echoed in Rin's mind. A dance of syllables. A dance of sounds around a void she was not certain she was ready to fall into.

For now, his name, a peek over the edge of memory down into the chasm would suffice. The girls had said the name. Their grandfather had said the name. But try as she might, Rin couldn't bring herself to say it aloud. It was too soon. Something was missing in it. Something about it bothered her.

There was a misstep somewhere.

It was but one movement she had to make, one shift in her tongue's step to capture a sound, a feeling that would make this man's name complete.

For now she could only practice.

In the backseat of the limousine, the sweat between Rin's fingers was slick with nerves. She was twisting her hands, rolling her knuckles into a tight twine. With every repetition of Sesshomaru's name, a thin hot coil of annoyance turned tighter and tighter in her belly.

The car was very long. The buildings and neon signs appeared mute and dull through its tinted windows. It was near one in the morning and the storm was coming down in sheets against the glass. Hard thuds of rain beat against the car roof over her head.

Genkuro, Inuyasha, and…Sesshomaru seemed very far away up there in the front. In contrast, the girls were too close.

On either side of her, Aiko and Keiko were leaning in, waging a fierce argument of whispers about their uncle over her lap. This Sesshomaru had made no comment at first about her lack of scent. It had seemed he was thinking of other things when he'd touched her and told her she was safe.

His brown eyes, oddly like the girls', and yet so dissimilar, had only stayed on her briefly after that touch. Her feelings of safety had been quickly replaced by confusion and a near painful curiosity.

He knew her.

His brother new her.

And as of now, they both seemed to know more about her than she did.

 _Sesshomaru…_ Rin thought again, narrowing her eyes to peer up at the front passenger's seat.

At the moment, he wasn't telling her much.

He hadn't turned around since they'd gotten into the car. He hadn't looked her way, but she couldn't take her eyes from him. By this point Rin knew the look of his steel grey hair more than his face. Every now and again Sesshomaru's voice would drift to the back seat, low and calm. He'd asked some questions of Inuyasha and Genkuro, but for the most part he'd remained quiet, listening.

Inuyasha had been the one to bring up her lack of scent, asking Genkuro how and why he'd accomplished that particular feet.

"I can smell her blood easy enough, but what on earth you do to her? Why?" he'd asked.

Rin had touched her lips lightly at that. She'd tried to clean the mess from the nosebleed she'd suffered during the fight, but her skin was still stained a soft pink, her hairline crusted with brown. It would need to be washed out.

"But, like, what's she gonna do noooow? She can't, like, you know, stay at the shrine anymore. That creep'll get her for sure!" Aiko whispered.

Keiko made a face and hissed back, "You spaz, she's gonna totally stay with us, duuuh…" the girl tapped a sharp nail against her head. Her hair was dry now, a shining white in the glowing gloom of the car. The purple beads of light lining the ceiling reflected off the slick black leather seats.

"Maybe our great uncle will take her," Aiko replied, glancing up at the front.

"-sama…," Rin breathed softly, between the two girls. She closed her eyes, her heart giving a flutter of relief.

No one noticed.

"That's stupid. That's not gonna happen. Do you hear him and grandfather talk? He doesn't like any of us...I mean, like, he demolished your shoulder for a reason."

Aiko leaned in across Rin, her hair cascading over her lap.

"Then why's he here?" she whispered pointedly.

Keiko paused at that, not noticing as Rin began to twist the silver strands between her fingers, narrowing her eyes, thinking.

"Sesshomaru…sama…" Rin whispered.

The name came easily off her tongue. As if she'd said it many times before. Her dance around the void was bearing fruit. It's sweetness filled her. She looked up from Aiko's hair in her hands to see Genkuro looking her way strangely. His expression was one of piecing together a puzzle.

"What's that?" Keiko asked.

Aiko placed the hand of her good arm on Rin's.

Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder from the driver's seat and then turned back to the road.

Sesshomaru did not turn.

The coil of annoyance tightened, sharp, in Rin's belly.

He knew her.

"Rin, what'd you wanna say?" Aiko asked gently.

Sesshomaru raised a slender hand back over the front seat, and snapped his fingers.

" _Hanyou._ Finish your explanation," he stated.

His smooth baritone washed, familiar and maddening, through Rin.

She wanted her own explanation. Her skin prickled with heat and consternation. She knew him. She had to say something.

"She's not gonna say anything, Aiko. She's… _messed…up_."

Rin jumped forward too quickly to notice Keiko rotating her finger by her ear. The plush leather of the limousine's seat opposite the girls felt taught and slippery against Rin's knees. Inuyasha was mid-sentence when she interrupted.

"But what's the next step? She can't stay with the—"

"S-sesshomaru-sama?" Rin leaned through the divider, over Sesshomaru's shoulder, her hair tumbling into the front. As her heart thudded in her chest, and his name weighed on her tongue, Rin felt relief. She was saying it right. She was saying it like she knew she should.

With a slight frown, he looked up at her, his eyes a deep brown, his skin soft and his expression hard with something she could not decipher.

"What do you need, Rin?"

Rin had the words ready, but hesitated, pursing her lips. Sesshomaru arched his brows imploringly. Biting her upper lip, Rin rocked on her knees for a second more and then barreled into her question.

"Why do you look so different?"

Her question seemed to confuse him.

"Different?" he asked.

Without thinking, Rin reached forward, and lightly brushed his grey hair with her fingertips. Over her shoulder, she did not notice Genkuro's look of shock. Inuyasha said nothing and kept his eyes on the road.

"You don't…you don't look like Aiko or Keiko or…" she paused at the name, "Inuyasha. Their hair's white."

The _hanyou_ grunted next to her.

Then shifting in his seat, he growled, "Kuh! Damn I hate this. Rin, just go to the back with the girls. You can ask your questions la—"

"It's a mask, Rin," Sesshomaru interrupted coolly, his eyes roving over her face as the words passed his lips. "Something Inuyasha and his offspring here, do not have an ability to acquire."

"Ahh, will you shut up? You're making me forget why I helped you."

Rin watched as Sesshomaru placed a thin strand of grey hair behind his ear. His lids were low as he replied, "A son cannot help the kind heart his mother gives him." She wondered at how a compliment could sound so biting. Inuyasha bristled and was about to respond when Rin asked, "But what do you mean? Inuyasha's bracelets do a lot."

Inuyasha turned slowly to glare up at her, but Genkuro nodded.

"Yeah, she's right there. Been a long time since you used that thing, huh, Inuyasha."

Sesshomaru looked at his brother quizzically, but did not ask. Instead he nodded and responded lightly, "Hmph, you carry the _Tetsusaiga_ then. I've heard of such methods of keeping one's sword."

Rin's eyes traced over the _hanyou_ 's hair, speckled with blood. The rip of his skin was still raw in her memory and the shower of his blood still eerily majestic before her mind's eye. The sword he'd used was no more now. Before he'd left for his brother, Inuyasha had used the strange magic of his many bracelets to place the sword within his back.

The girls had bickered over why he hadn't told them about it for sometime after. Rin's relief at finally asking Sesshomaru one of her many questions was waning. She had so many more. But before she could ask another, Inuyasha barked into the back of the car, "We're almost there. Girls, you're gonna stay in the car."

At Aiko and Keiko's whines, Rin looked over her shoulder. They were both slumped down in the back seat, shoulder-to-shoulder, legs long and straight in front of them. Aiko was playing with the drinks bar, clinking the bottles together.

"Well what if we wanna go?"

"Well nuthin'. You're stayin'," Inuyasha shot back.

"It's our right to go!" Keiko called back. Aiko hit her weakly on her thigh, but Keiko took no notice.

"You let them speak to you in a such a way, Inuyasha," Sesshomaru chided.

"Shut your mouth, Keiko! You're stayin', alright?" Inuyasha's knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel.

Rin took one last look at Sesshomaru, running her eyes over his jaw line and round ears, wondering what he would look like without this mask he'd spoken of. Then glancing at Genkuro, she slumped down into the seat. The girls were whispering to each other in the back, Keiko with her hand over her mouth and Aiko nodding dreamily.

Rin jumped when she heard Inuyasha shout from behind her, "And you're not gonna sneak out of the damn car either! If you do that, you can go right back to that California of yours!"

As Keiko scowled, Rin wondered at Inuyasha's hearing. His granddaughters' whispers had been inaudible to her. Genkuro winked at her.

"What?" she asked.

He jerked his head toward the front seat and mouthed, " _He always says that_ _._ "

Outside, Rin spied familiar streets. The rain had stopped. Shifting, she pressed herself against the window, eyeing the dark grocery store as they drove by. The shrine was moments away. Suddenly, the car lurched up and she felt herself thud into the glass.

"You call that driving?" yelped Keiko from the back.

"What are you _doing_?" Aiko called, toppling over onto her sister.

"Parking. What's it look like?"

Rin heard something click in the front as the car came to a jerking stop. Without a sound, and before anyone could say a word, Sesshomaru was outside.

"Asshole," Inuyasha muttered.

But Rin paid no mind as she scrambled out of the car. Now parked, it was half on the sidewalk, half on the street.

Compared to Sesshomaru, she was a mess. Her clothes were crinkled and torn from the chlorine and Nogistune's wrath. Blood crusted her hair and stained her mouth and neck. She was missing a shoe.

Rin watched curiously as he slid his long hands nimbly into a pair of black, leather gloves. He glanced her way, but said nothing to her imploring gaze.

"What are those for? It's the hot season," she asked, taking a step closer.

He paused a moment, contemplating something. Then answered simply, "They're just a preference of mine. Nothing more."

Cracking a knuckle, he shifted his gaze away, up toward the shrine. His nostrils flared as his eyes roamed the trees above her head.

"You girls stay here. You got it?"

Inuyasha was outside the limousine now, holding the back door open, and leaning inside to talk with the girls.

"Ugh, we got it already," Keiko's voice responded in aggravation. "Just go!"

Rin's eyes were still on Inuyasha when the _hanyou_ turned around and swore.

"Hey stop!" he called.

Turning, Rin saw Sesshomaru already halfway up the steps. She felt a whoosh of air as the _hanyou_ leapt past her, landing in front his brother. For a moment, she stood in awe at his speed, but then her curiosity got the better of her and she ran up after them.

"You can't just barge in there!" Inuyasha was waving his arms wildly at his brother. "They can't know about us!"

"Correction, brother. They can't know about you. And for my part, I don't care what they know."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and snorted in derision, "For my part. Kuh. You bastard, you never cared about anybody but yourself."

"Inuyasha," Genkuro's voice sounded over Rin's shoulder, but Sesshomaru cut him off, "And looking at the state you're in now, it seems it has served me well, little brother. Now step aside."

Rin felt the breeze stir eerily around her. The leaves and flowers in full bloom rustled on the branches above, some flying away on the growing wind. She shivered.

Silently, she watched as Sesshomaru moved around his brother.

Inuyasha's eyes widened in anger. Then whipping around, he barked in anguish, "You don't get it! You could mess _everything up_!"

Sesshomaru paused for a moment, then continued walking.

Genkuro touched Inuyasha's arm lightly, but he jerked it off.

"Get off!" he spat and pounced after his brother.

With that, Genkuro and Rin were left standing together, staring after the two brothers as they approached the shrine. Inuyasha was shouting after Sesshomaru, but Rin could not quite hear. After a moment, she turned to Genkuro and said, "He doesn't know the Higurashi's caught you, does he."

The _hanyou_ gulped and shook his head.

"Maybe I should go back to the car..." he wheezed.

After what Rin had seen of Inuyasha's power, she didn't question Genkuro's urge to hide. But as he began to back away down the steps, she caught him, "No. You can help them. And why is it so bad the Higurashi's know about you?"

"Look," Genkuro held her hand imploringly, "You don't know the history here. Inuyasha thinks..." he trailed off, then began again. "Inuyasha thinks that this shrine...that he might be able to see the girls' grandmother again. She was supposed to be born around now. He just doesn't want to mess anything up."

Rin stared at the _hanyou_ , confused. "You mean..." she began slowly, "He thinks she'll be born now? Why? Didn't he know her a long time ago?"

Genkuro sighed.

"Rin, it's complicated. You wouldn't understand. That well Hiro found you in is pretty powerful. It's a long story."

A heavy base beat began to emit from within the limousine at the foot of the shrine steps. The girls were making themselves busy. Rin watched as the front passenger window rolled slowly down and a soft cloud of smoke rose into the night air.

"Hey," Genkuro's voice drew her back. "Let's go. They'll figure out everything up there, but we must pack you up."

This time it was Rin's turn to sigh.

There had been much talk of where she would go now since leaving the pool.

Keiko had been pretty certain Inuyasha would take her in, but Rin was reticent to go with him. Truthfully she did not know where she wanted to go. She couldn't stay with the Higurashi's. That was for certain. They would be in far too much danger with that Hakuzo looking for her. And with what Genkuro had just told her of the girls' grandmother, Inuyasha would never allow her to stay at the shrine.

Rin gazed up at the top of the steps.

Sesshomaru had said nothing on the topic.

Aiko's voice came back to her then.

" _Then why's he here?"_ she'd jeered.

 _Why is he here?_ Rin wondered.

The trace of his touch still lingered on her cheek. He hadn't worn his gloves then.

Genkuro was walking in front of her, oblivious to her thoughts. He looked confident, but Rin could sense his underlying nerves. He'd been strange much of the night after Sesshomaru's appearance. The brothers had made him explain much, but Rin couldn't help but notice him leaving out key details.

He'd failed to mention the Higurashi's involvement in most of their encounters, not to mention old Mr. Higurashi tying him up in the storeroom. Now it seemed she knew his reasons. More bewildering, however, was how he hadn't told the brothers of Kuzumeha. She'd been the one to warn him of everything after all.

Rin was tempted to ask the _hanyou_ about his silence, but then stopped herself.

There were times, she knew, it was best to stay silent. She would watch for what happened next.

Genkuro was slightly ahead of her now. He was cresting the steps, moonlight setting his red hair aglow, when he stopped in his tracks. Curious, Rin picked up her pace and jogged up to the _hanyou_.

"Why did you sto...," she began, then trailed off.

Before them, covering every tree, every post, every bench, every door were hundreds of glowing, white sutras. Genkuro placed a finger on one as it fluttered lightly against the bark of the _goshenboku._

"This is just silly," he laughed.

Shaking his head he touched another. This time there was a soft hissing sound and Genkuro had to snap his hand back. With a small spark, the sutra burst into blue flame, and within seconds it was ash.

Off to Rin's right, Inuyasha was crouching low, inspecting a sutra on a bench. He was alone.

"You think Mr. Higurashi did this?" she asked.

"...and Hiro. Yes, little Rin. We'll have to see further."

The _hanyou_ wiggled his eyebrows, but Rin ignored him. Inuyasha was approaching them, something clearly on his mind.

"Everything okay?" asked Genuro hesitantly.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "It'll have to be."

Then he turned to Rin.

"You're gonna have to get your stuff," he added. "Can you do that without waking anybody? You'll have to sneak in."

For a moment Rin was at a loss. This was all happening so fast. Just that morning she'd thought about what it would be like to leave the Higurashi's. How it would feel to disappear into the city. She'd never imagined she would be leaving tonight.

"I can do that," she nodded. "It'll be easy. I don't...really have much."

Inuyasha nodded and, sniffing the air, leapt into the trees. Then, not a second later, he poked his head back through the leaves and hissed, "Psst! What are you doin' Genkuro? Leave her to it! Get up here!"

The _kitsune_ blanched, and with only slight hesitation jumped up to Inuyasha.

Rin stared blankly up into the leaves above her. For a moment she felt completely alone. It was almost as if nothing had happened that morning to whisk her away from the shrine; as if no one had come to hurt her, and no one had come to save her.

Wrapping her arms around herself she began to walk toward the house. She wondered whether any of the Higurashi's were up still. Inuyasha wanted her to leave without a trace, but she didn't know if she could do that. She didn't know if she could explain to the Higurashi's that she was leaving either. With every step she took toward the house, Rin's heart sank.

Without her memory, this family was all she knew. They had been with her, taken care of her since the hospital.

All Rin truly wanted to do was curl up in her bed, in her little room, and fall asleep. She wanted to wake up tomorrow and eat Ume's cooking. She wanted to help old Mr. Higurashi in the shop and listen to the old man bicker with his son. She wanted everything to be as it was.

A pair of fireflies twirled through the air in front of her. If she'd been younger, she would have tried to catch them. Instead, she let them burn against the darkness in front of her until their twin lights died. The house was just up ahead. She wondered whether Inuyasha would ever let her return.

 _I can't leave,_ she thought. _I don't want to._

With those words heavy on her heart, Rin trekked across the soggy shrine grounds, her feet sinking with each step into wet soil. She walked, deep in thought, until she saw something that made her stop short. Sesshomaru was standing just under her window. He was frowning, holding something up to his nose in a gloved hand.

A leaf.

 _Why are you here?_ she pondered. _Who are you?_

As Rin began her slow approach, she thought Sesshomaru hadn't noticed her. But she was proven wrong when he crumpled the leaf and softly said, "Inuyasha has sent you to collect your things?"

His eyes drew up to her when she didn't respond. His look was imploring, expectant.

Rin nodded, and then taking a step closer, she asked, "Inuyasha said he was helping you? Why- what is he helping you do?"

Rin watched as Sesshomaru released the leaf, and slowly slid his hands into his pockets. He turned and looked up to her window. It was not far off the ground. An easy climb for her. Sutras were placed along the sill, fluttering softly, heavy with water from the night's storm. His silence filled the space between them. It made Rin wonder whether she'd asked too much.

Sesshomaru frowned slightly then, and keeping his eyes on the dark pane of glass asked softly, "Tell me. Were you happy here?"

"I- I don't really want to leave," Rin said in response. "But I know I have to."

Sesshomaru turned to her, meeting her gaze. He seemed to grow larger before her then. Rin could feel the void grow within her chest watching him. She wanted to know so much more. She wanted him to touch her again. The caress of his hand against her cheek. The thought held her there a moment, suspended in her longing for the unknown. She sighed, a pressure building behind her eyes.

"I hate to say goodbye," she whispered.

A tear escaped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away.

Sesshomaru's eyes followed her hands as she wrapped her arms around herself, tucking her fingers into the crooks of her elbows. Rin shifted uncomfortably, and turned her attention to her window. She would have to climb in and collect her things.

As she walked past him, she heard him sigh and say, "You shouldn't worry about such things. Do what you think is right."

When she turned, his expression was resolute.

Rin nodded and began her climb into the house. She eased the window open, surprised that it was unlocked. As she climbed inside, lifting one leg and then the other carefully over the sill, she could feel Sesshomaru's eyes on her. She was about to tell him that he didn't need to help her, when her eyes landed on Hiro.

Head lolling back and snoring, he was fast asleep in a chair facing the window. The club he liked to carry for defense lay limply across his lap, plastered with sutras. Rin would have laughed, if she hadn't been so reticent to leave. Quickly she peaked out the window, and found that Sesshomaru was no longer below her.

All she could hear were the crickets.

 _To think_ , she pondered, _there are so many on the property, and I would have had no idea._

The thought sent a chill down her spine. Apparently the presence of _yokai_ had gone unnoticed many a night during her stay with the Higurashi's.

The sight of Hiro's prone body, and his feeble weapon, made Rin's decision for her. She knew what she had to do now.

She had to move on.

Slowly, carefully, she tip toed around Hiro. His snores hitched as she pulled her dresser open, and she nearly jumped. However, he remained asleep. It took her several minutes to bundle up her few possessions and put on a pair of fresh sneakers, discarding her one remaining shoe from the fight. But Rin knew how to sneak. As Hiro slept, she knew what she was doing was best.

Silent as a mouse, Rin turned to the window intent on slipping through it as quietly as she had come in.

But something tugged at her.

She had to see the house one last time. She had to say goodbye. Turning on her heel, she tiptoed to Hiro. As lightly as she could, she kissed him on the cheek.

"No you don't..." he mumbled sleepily and shifted his club in his hands.

Rin couldn't help her smile as she rose and left the room. The hallway was silent and grey with a mix of darkness and moonlight. Beneath her sneakers, the floor groaned and creaked. As she passed the bathroom the thought of just how dirty she was nagged at her. Silently, she slipped into the room and scrubbed her face with soap and water.

Once clean, she peered at herself in the bathroom mirror. Leaning forward, she pulled on her cheeks and stuck out her tongue. She was exhausted and it showed. With careful dexterity, she attempted to tease apart the clot of blood in her hair. It would have to wait, she decided a moment later. What she really needed was a bath.

She peered at the bathtub next to her. It wasn't that long ago that Genkuro was making her bathe in that disgusting _Ashiarai Yashiki's_ water.

"I bet that thing didn't smell half as bad as I do now," she whispered, screwing up her face once more before the mirror.

Absently, she ran her fingers along a towel hanging on the wall as she left the bathroom, the terrycloth rough and familiar against her skin. She forged her way through the rest of the house, making her way past the kitchen, past the carpeted stairs, and past the living room. Memories of her months with the Higurashi's slid past her, as if she were being guided down a stream, on a current beyond her control.

She thought of her conversation with Sesshomaru then. His brother may have not wanted her here, but Sesshomaru had given her a choice.

 _"_ This is my decision," she whispered, as she stared at the black TV box that had so entertained the Higurashi's and so confounded her for the past several months.

 _All those little people,_ she thought.

As she placed her hand on the door, finally ready to leave, she heard a soft creak behind her. Spinning around, Rin saw Mr. Higurashi, his eyes crusted with sleep, shuffling toward her.

"Mr. Higurashi..." she whispered in surprise.

"Rin..." he mumbled back, rubbing his eyes. "You're back...we were so worried."

Rin stared at the old man, uncertain of what to do. Inuyasha had wanted her to wake no one.

"I'm- I'm leaving now," she whispered lamely.

At her words the old priest sighed. Nodding slowly, he held up his arms, beckoning her to come to him. With a shuddering exhale, Rin wrapped her arms around him.

"You understand?" she breathed into his shoulder.

"Nope. Not at all. But I don't think we ever really did."

Rin sniffed, feeling her eyes brim with tears for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"Stay safe, child," he whispered into her ear.

At his words, Rin hugged him a little tighter. She could feel the soft rhythm of his old chuckle. Squeezing her eyes shut, she whispered back, "And Hiro won't be mad I left like this?"

Mr. Higurashi pushed her back gently and laughingly replied, "Oh he will, Rin. But don't worry. We're all used to it. Will you be staying with the _yokai_ boy now? Genkuro?"

Rin almost blurted out a truthful, no, but then decided a white lie would serve her and the Higurashi's better. She gave a mute nod, and the old priest seemed to relax. Slowly, she pulled herself away from him.

"I have to go now."

"I know," the old man nodded and helped her through the door. His eyes held no sleep as she gave one last, deep bow of thanks on the Higurashi door step.

"Goodbye, Mr. Higurashi..." she whispered to herself when she heard the door slide closed. It was not a moment later, however, that Rin heard the door clack back open.

"Rin!" the old priest hissed, his head poking through. "You packed the _Jurojin_ , right?"

Rin blanched at the question, then let out her first laugh since she'd been whisked away from the shrine earlier that day.

"Yes, of course," she nodded, waving.

Mr. Higurashi gave a proud nod, "Good. Even _if_ you're running around with _yokai_ it's always good to keep up with your health."

Rin couldn't agree more. With those parting words, Mr. Higurashi waved goodbye and slid the door closed.

Shifting her grip on her bundle of clothes, Rin began her search for her new companions. They were somewhere on the property. She hadn't made it far, when she saw Sesshomaru standing with Genkuro and Inuyasha. The fox appeared to be very unhappy. Confused, Rin jogged over to the group. To the naked eye, Sesshomaru seemed pleasant enough. But as she drew closer, and his words became clear, she understood Genkuro's dismay.

"You play a dangerous game, _hanyou_."

Sesshomaru was not looking at Genkuro as he spoke, instead his concentration was on adjusting his gloves. The implication in his words carried a careless viciousness that the _kitsune_ seemed to fully comprehend. Genkuro stepped away slowly, looking to Inuyasha for help, but found no sympathy there.

"Why'd you leave the fox out?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh come now! I had every intention of telling you," he pleaded.

Sesshomaru's eyes met Rin's. He kept them on her as he asked Genkuro, "What did you two speak of?"

"My, my...you do have a good nose..." Genkuro sighed in resignation. "I found her in Rin's room the other night. The name was...the name was..."

Rin was certain Genkuro remembered Kuzumeha's name. He'd said it enough that afternoon with her and the girls. But it seemed even now he had to make a show of it.

"Ah! Her name was Kuzumeha! Of course! She warned me of the _kitsune-shikaku_."

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at the _hanyou_ , but seemed to accept his answer. Without another word, he stepped away and began to head toward the stairs. Genkuro breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your brother sure enjoys walking out of conversations," he observed to Inuyasha a moment later.

"Yeah yeah," Inuyasha nodded dismissively, "He's an asshole."

Then his eyes landed on Rin, "No one saw you right?"

Clutching her bundle of belongings to her chest, Rin shook her head no. This seemed to suffice for the _hanyou._ He nodded and signaled for them to follow him down the steps. Sesshomaru was walking with long strides ahead of them. Rin had the distinct feeling something had unnerved him. Did it all have to do with this Kuzumeha demon?

 _She was certainly very beautiful,_ she thought.

Rin could still remember her odd meeting with the _kitsune_ in the restaurant bathroom. She had asked her so many confusing questions.

Kuzumeha remained on Rin's mind as she descended toward the limousine. Sesshomaru was a few paces ahead when he stopped mid-stride.

"Ah crap," Inuyasha swore behind her.

"What's wrong?" Rin asked, but the _hanyou_ paid no mind to her. Far below them, the car looked just as it had the last time she'd seen it. Long and black, thrumming with music, smoke seeping out the front window.

"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru's back was stiff and straight. "Do something about those girls before I do."

Throughout the night, Rin had observed that there were many things the brothers did not agree on, even violently so, but in this instance Inuyasha did not need to be told twice. Within moments the _hanyou_ was wrenching the front door open and dragging an unsuspecting Keiko out onto the sidewalk.

"Ow ow ow!" she wailed. "My arm! My arm!"

A lit cigarette was dangling out from between her lips. Inuyasha only gripped her tighter.

"What the hell you think you're doing smoking those?" he shouted.

An upper story light clicked on in a building across the street.

"Jesus, I almost _died_ tonight! Can't a girl let off some steam?" Keiko shot back. Aiko had jumped out of the car and was running around the back to her grandfather and sister. The music had stopped.

Rin walked absently down a few more steps, wrapped up in the drama below. She was watching so intently that she almost missed Sesshomaru's look.

"I take it you've made up your mind," his voice implied something Rin could not quite grasp, his eyes tracing over the bundle of clothes in her arms. Nodding, Rin couldn't help the feeling that she'd disappointed him somehow. He turned back to his brother. The summer night's breeze played with his hair as Inuyasha and Keiko's shouts emanated up to them.

He called down to Inuyasha, "Brother, just take the car. Jaken will be by tomorrow."

"What? What are you talkin' about? I thought you were-!"

"Eh!" a man leaning out the window opposite them cut Inuyasha off. "Will you people be quiet? We're trying to sleep!"

Keiko wrenched herself away from her grandfather, shaking her fist.

"Why don't _you_ be quiet?" she hollered back. Inuyasha smacked her upside the head.

The scene before them was quickly devolving into chaos, Rin observed. She wondered how life would be with Aiko, Keiko and their grandfather.

 _Probably very loud_ , she mused.

Sesshomaru began a leisurely descent to the sidewalk below. Where was he going? He'd told his brother to take the car.

On impulse, Rin called, "Wait! Where are you going?"

She needed to know.

He stopped and turned.

"Home," came the simple reply.

 _Home,_ Rin thought. The word fell on her heart like the deep, resounding pound of a drum.

This was her choice.

She knew that much.

Without another thought she jogged lightly down to Sesshomaru and touched his left arm. The fabric of his suit jacket felt soft and luxurious under her finger tips. His eyes slid slowly from her face to her hand.

While Genkuro had joined the argument below, Inuyasha had plucked Keiko's cigarettes from her pocket and was making Aiko turn out her own.

"Where's home?" Rin asked, stepping closer to recapture Sesshomaru's implacable gaze.

The silence lingered between them, heavy with what lived in the chasm of her unasked questions.

Her past, unmasked as it was.

Finally, Sesshomaru broke the silence. "Is this what you want?"

A path opened up before Rin then. It felt familiar. In her belly, in her heart, in her very bones, she knew she had stumbled down it before. Down these woods now made of steal and glass. Looking up into Sesshomaru's brown eyes, Rin knew, if she wished, she could stay with Inuyasha and ignore the violent truth lurking deep within the void before her. Cigarette smoke still lingered in the air, drifting past her nose, dissipating into nothing.

Flowers bloomed above her. The sky was black.

"You _know_ me," Rin uttered the words slow and deliberate.

She hoped he would understand.

He seemed to, for his answer was a soft, "Yes."

Rin took one last look at the Higurashi shrine. The tree branches were beginning to droop with the night's growing humidity. Her choice was made.

* * *

"It's _his_ car, Keiko. You think he wants to smell that poison you put in yourself?" Inuyasha was growling, grinding his heel into what remained of Keiko and Aiko's cigarettes. The tobacco's warm browns and yellows spilled across the cement, rolling into the cracks in the pavement.

"Sorry, grandfather," Aiko mumbled leaning against the car.

Unlike her sister, Keiko had no apologies in her. She glared at her grandfather, intent on making her point. But the words died in her throat as her great uncle wordlessly made his way past their little group. Rin was walking at his side.

Where did she think she was going?

Aiko made a noise next to her.

"Grandfather," she asked in confusion. "They're leaving."

Screwing up her face, Keiko added, "She... _went_ with him?"

"Why?" asked Aiko. "She doesn't even know him."

Peering at her great uncle and Rin's receding forms, her grandfather adjusted the hood of his sweatshirt over his head. When he turned back to Keiko, he had an odd expression.

 _Is grandfather...sad_? she thought.

Aiko gave her a look, clearly thinking the same thing. They would definitely talk about this later.

"Come on," Inuyasha grunted then. "We gotta get home. There'll be more time for you to be a buncha' idiots tomorrow."

The bewilderment filling Keiko was dispersed when Genkuro laughed behind her.

"And who knew your brother could be so nice! Look at this beautiful car he gave us!"

Keiko watched as her grandfather wrenched the driver's side door open. She knew what he was going to say next.

"Happy you like it, Genkuro. Cuz you'll be sleeping in it tonight."

Rin and Sesshomaru were disappearing down the hill.

Keiko wondered whether they were prepared for the long walk home.

* * *

Preview: Chapter II

The Stench

"But I don't understand. It was a gift."


	3. Chapter II The Stench

Authors Note: Quick recommendation before reading this chapter. Listen to "Run" by Daughter. You can find it on youtube easily. This particular song helped me compose much of this chapter, and may be fun to listen to while reading for atmospheric reasons.

Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far! I am so grateful to all of you for your kind words and encouragement. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as much as I enjoy writing it.

Much love, Liz.

* * *

Chapter II ~ The Stench

* * *

 _Musashi Province, 1592_

* * *

One straight line.

At least that had been what her father's path through the countryside had seemed like. Inumiyo had been following him for days now. She'd run away from her mother's furs nearly a moon's turn ago. Hiru-baba was no doubt following her at this very moment.

Inumiyo, however, was too fast for the flea. And even if she had been a slower child, a dumber child, her mission was too important to let her mother's servant reel her back to captivity.

 _He walks so confidently_ , she thought. _Such a straight path…this must be the way to power._

"Grandmother said that's what you're always looking for, father," she whispered to herself, absently touching her long white pigtails. Her mother and Hiru both agreed it best if she had the _shikigami_ make her hair that way. Inumiyo's mind was not on her hair, however. Instead it was far off in the floating gardens she had left behind.

It had been the mention of her father in a conversation with her mother that had set Inumiyo off on her present journey.

They'd been sitting together with her great uncle, one-eyed Katsumaru, his ever-present black haired _inugami_ creatures, Shin and Shou, prowling with their bows in the garden outside, when her grandmother began chastising her mother.

"Sweet Inuyua," she'd said. "You know I would like my son to return to us some time within the next century. You should make a greater effort to not reveal your natural simpleness in his presence and lure him here."

At the time, this particular comment had not concerned Inumiyo. It was widely known her mother was a fool. She was from the Southern mountains after all. Indeed, Inumiyo had heard others make fun at her mother's expense many a time. Her iyo-born accent had often been a point of ridicule amongst Inukimi's underlings. Since she could remember, the little _yokai_ child had made a point not to pick up any of her mother's various affects.

Contrary to Inuyua, she had never heard a word spoken against her father. He was too illustrious a _yokai_ for anyone to speak against him, she knew. Inuyua had begun to stumble over a response and Inumiyo's mind had begun to wander when her great uncle spoke. She couldn't be certain whether it was his words or the glint off the black _meido_ jewel in his right eye that unsettled her so.

"What is it, do you think, little sister, that interests our Sesshomaru so much in the lands below?" he asked, tilting his head back to suck the marrow from one of the finger bones her grandmother's _shikigami_ servants had set out.

They had been especially good that day.

As her mother's teeth clenched, Inumiyo asked in perplexed curiosity, "What…what is father looking for, grandmother? I want to know."

In her interest for an answer, the little girl missed Katsumaru's wink at her wilting mother. Inuyua's hands were shaking as she reached for a pickled newt's tail.

Inukimi smiled at her granddaughter, and leaning forward to stroke her cheek with her painted claws, answered, "Oh, my sweetling, he looks for power. Why, it would be a shame if he were looking for anything else. Do you not think so, dear daughter of mine?"

Inumiyo watched curiously as her grandmother eyed her mother, and Katsumaru gave a bark of laughter.

"There you are right, sister! There you are right!" he proclaimed.

Inumiyo could still remember Inuyua's unhappiness. It had been so obvious it nearly formed a scent of its own under Inumiyo's nose—like a little animal of distaste and worry, fur bristling within her nostrils.

She had been about to ask more, but the conversation was interrupted by Shou, bloodied and crying with pain, bursting through the shoji doors. Shin had apparently shot him with an arrow through the shoulder in play.

Inumiyo did not like the _inugami_ brothers. Her elders told her that their devotion to her great uncle was honorable and had elevated them above the forests and human battlefields of their lowly birth, but their pungent smell and the tales of what they had done to her grandmother's eldest sister, Inunao, always made Inumiyo uneasy in their presence.

This was not to mention how she'd often caught them looking upon her. When she was only with her mother, their twin stares felt like the slither of a snake beneath her sheets. They never seemed to look her way when she was with her grandmother.

It wasn't until later that day, once everyone had dispersed for an impromptu hunt, and in her mother's case, a solitary walk with Hiru-baba, that Inumiyo had time to ponder over the day's conversation. Once she was able to put aside her thoughts of her grandmother's fine nails, and the _inugami_ brothers' bloody wails, she sat thinking about her father. What if his travels were not for power after all? Her uncle and grandmother were indeed strange at times, but why had Katsumaru laughed so about his hunt?

What kind of power could her exalted father be on the hunt for?

What was so important for him to find?

She had no idea.

Thus far in her short life, she had only seen her father a fair few times. The meager visits Sesshomaru had paid to her mother and herself had been full of distant glances and disinterested inquiries after her health. Despite these setbacks, Inumiyo had been able to glean some joy from her father's presence. While it may not have been directly from Sesshomaru himself, his little imp servant's many tales of glory and death had filled the girl with a deep pride and curiosity.

At the moment, her father and the imp were down in the valley below.

She squinted at their distant shapes as they moved slowly through the grass.

 _If he seeks power_ , Inumiyo mused to herself. _It must be very far. And very grand._

Hopping across tree branches toward Sesshomaru's receding figure, she could only imagine the great deeds he was on his way to perform. The great _yokai_ he would defeat with the help of his brave servant, Jaken. If the _kappa_ was to be believed he had been indispensable to her father's successful journey to become a _dai-yokai_ , like her great and terrible grandfather before him.

Inumiyo had often wondered how her father could have found such a courageous and powerful _kappa_ for a manservant. And however much her mother's lady-flea, Hiru-baba, liked to mock Jaken, Inumiyo would always speak well of him.

In fact, she had had to defend the imp on just his last visit. Almost immediately after her father had whisked his lucky servant off to yet another adventure, the lady-flea had come to her and laughed that Jaken, like all _kappa_ , couldn't help the hole in his head. Inumiyo was uncertain of why Hiru-baba disliked Jaken so much, but she was certain that traveling with the imp would give her a chance to finally impress her father in the way she knew she could. If she could help him find this power he was looking for, maybe next time she had tea with grandmother, she would be able to tell everyone exactly what her father hoped to achieve.

Maybe then her uncle would not laugh so, and she would be considered her father's, and not her mother's, daughter.

Lightly touching the fur around her little shoulders, she took a deep breath, and leapt through the air. She was careful to moderate her speed, so as not to alert anyone to her presence, for she had not surmised a way to introduce herself. All she knew was her entrance would need to be as grand as the heights she aimed to rise in Sesshomaru's esteem.

There was no thought in Inumiyo's head, however, that her father may have already caught her scent on the wind.

It was only after several hours of skimming over fields and wondering how she would convince her father to let her join him, that Sesshomaru came to a rest. He had walked through the night, never slowing his stride. Jaken had surprised Inumiyo by taking an uncharacteristic nap on the beast-of-burden.

Her father was now standing on a path by a field. The _dai-yokai_ had been standing for several minutes now, looking at a human girl and a little boy in the high grass below him. The woman was playing with the boy, chasing him and tickling him whenever she caught him.

To Inumiyo's eye, the boy, plump as he was, reminded her of a stuffed child she'd eaten at last summer's Hyakki Yako. That had been a good year for the feast. Her grandmother had let her pick the strawberries that were used to fill his eye sockets and mouth for the presentation.

She was wondering if the marrow in the village boy's fingers would be as sweet as the bones her grandmother always had at tea, when an idea struck her. Her father had already turned away, continuing his straight path through the countryside, but Inumiyo stayed, staring at the humans below her.

She knew exactly how to introduce herself to her father.

She would make a gift to please him.

...

"Don't lag, brother! We have to get back before nightfall," the girl called through the trees. "Father will be angry!"

Inumiyo crouched low by the tree, her mokomoko bristling with excitement. She would appear as grandmother always did, majestic and lovely, before these humans.

The girl had already passed her, unaware of her presence. It was the little boy Inumiyo was interested in. She had spent the afternoon picking strawberries in the fields to the east for the preparation. They were currently wrapped up in a large leave at the base of the tree she crouched behind.

"I'm coming!" the boy called as he ran up the path.

He stopped however when he saw Inumiyo. She had done her best to mirror her grandmother's posture. Her shoulders were back, and her chin was at a coy tilt. She'd painted her lips and nails with the juice of the strawberries. The resplendent silks of her kimono were enough, she knew, to mesmerize the boy, but she wanted to do her best.

As it was, he was staring in disbelief at her. She liked that he was plump. It would make a good gift for her father. There would be more fat on the bone. His lips, crusted with dust from the day, were trembling.

"S-s-sister…" he whispered, the crack in his voice sending a thrill through Inumiyo. She could feel the goose pimples burst across her arms.

"Hello there," to make her voice sweeter, she pictured placing the strawberries she'd picked into his eyes.

"Hi..." he wheezed, taking a stumbling step back. "S-s-siiiis _ter_!"

Inumiyo was near gleeful at the rising desperation in his voice. If only her father could see her now. He would be so proud.

Distantly, she heard footsteps rapidly approaching down the path. Turning, she saw the sister running, red faced, toward her. Unlike Inumiyo's hair, the girl's locks were cut to an unbecoming shoulder length. They were messy and full of dust, just like her brother's. The stupid thing had made an attempt to do something with her hair, pulling a small piece up into an awkward pony tale at the side of her head.

"Get away from him, _yokai_!" she hollered, grabbing a fist full of dirt and throwing it across the path.

In shock, Inumiyo hissed and shielded her eyes.

"How dare you!" she spat, baring her teeth.

The human girl did not flinch. She gathered her brother in her arms and began to back away.

"Stay away from us!" she called. "I'll get the village after you! Go back, spirit!"

With each word, tears leaked from the girl's eyes.

 _How pathetic_ , Inumiyo thought, flexing her claws. Then, lifting her fingertips to her nose, the waft of strawberry giving her a burst of confidence, she took a delicate step forward.

"Human, don't be afraid. I only want to play with your brother. Really, I do. I liked your game earlier. With…with the tickling. And the chasing."

The boy clutched at his sister, and she held him more tightly to her. They were backing into the forest. The darkness was growing. This was going splendidly.

"Stay away from us…" the girl croaked.

Inumiyo shook her head.

"Lets play your chasing game. The one from the field."

At her words, the humans broke into a run, and Inumiyo laughed with excitement.

She dove after them into the darkening woods.

* * *

Four days later…

* * *

The summer drone of cicadas emanated dully from the trees, but the buzz of flies was closer. Inumiyo lay in the high grass humming to herself, day dreaming of her fast approaching meeting with her father. He would be coming upon her soon.

She'd planned it out perfectly.

Unlike her mother, she was a smart child. Her father's path to power was undeviating. She had watched him for so long, Inumiyo was certain she could predict where his leisurely trek would lead him.

While the strawberries had once been fresh, they now carried a certain rankness. Their growing stench, however, did nothing to deter Inumiyo's growing excitement.

She'd spent the better part of the day after her hunt dressing her gift.

And now the girl's head was perfect, resting in its display on the path.

In life the human girl had been plain, but now, with hair brushed and laced with honeysuckle, and orifices stuffed with handpicked summer fruit, Inumiyo thought she had never looked better. The thought of her father coming upon such a wonderful trophy, only to discover that it had been her all along, made Inumiyo giggle with anticipation.

In the end she'd chosen the sister's head for her father over the brother's because she disliked the girl more. She'd let the boy go running off into the woods, the tears in his skin from her attempted tickles raw and open. She'd decided to pick the girl when, in the rough and tumble of her tussle with the boy, the human had had the gall to pull Inumiyo's hair.

Sitting here now, thinking upon her victory, Inumiyo was certain the satisfaction that had come with the end of her hunt, would pale in comparison to her father finally coming upon her.

The sun was beginning to sink to the west when the _yokai_ child finally heard the grunts of her father's beast-of-burden coming down the path. In an attempt to cover up the rapidly growing stink of the decaying head, she had draped it in an ever-growing pile of honeysuckle.

Smelling her father's imposing scent of sword metals and blood, she pinched her cheeks in excitement. Wondering if he would be struck as the boy was with her elegance, Inumiyo danced out onto the path. She hoped the strawberry juice she'd spread over her lips earlier had made her look as beautiful as her grandmother.

"Father!" she cried, waving her arms in glee.

He was stopped several paces away, eyes glued to the head on the path before him. Inumiyo gave no heed to the strange look in his eye, as she bowed low, little breaths coming fast in anticipation.

"Daughter," came his low response.

She missed his cold tone as she rose, pointing proudly to her gift as it stared, mouth gaping from the ground. Certain the honeysuckle would cover up the smell, she twirled and hopped toward her father ready for his embrace.

It did not come.

She felt him sweep past, intent on his gift.

Bending low, he tentatively touched the honeysuckle and strawberries, the fruits fuzzy now with growth.

Inumiyo was about to ask what he thought, but Jaken's look of disgust surprised her. It took her a moment, but as the head's putridness rose through the summer air, so did a slow unease rise through her nostrils.

"Inumiyo-sama…what…what is this?" Jaken croaked, placing a sleeved arm over his nose.

The motion sent a spike of alarm through the little girl.

Her gift was not being well received.

Slowly, swallowing her fear, she turned to her father.

Her face was unbearably hot—any hopes to witness him happy, quickly dwindling.

"It…it's a gift for you, father," she attempted to explain. "I—I saw you looking at them…I wanted to take the boy too, but I...the-the girl pulled my hair and...I—I was successful in my hunt! Now I can benefit you on your…your own hunt. For…for pow—"

"Silence," he ordered, frowning at the head.

As her words had rushed from her mouth, he had picked up the head by its hair. It was hanging from his claws, maggots, and not the fresh strawberries Inumiyo would have wanted, tumbling from its mouth and eyes. Under her father's implacable gaze, the girl's head was alive once more—this time with insects.

Jaken was dancing behind her, attempting to swat the flies away.

Sesshomaru did not look at her as he uttered his next words.

"I could smell your stench a day away, daughter. You surprise me."

The usual iciness in his tone had given way to something simmering and frightening. He was not pleased with her.

She had never seen him angry.

Not with her.

When he looked upon Inumiyo, all the child could find in his eyes was disdain. Then his expression turned from anger to a more withering calm. He seemed resigned.

"But maybe, I shouldn't be," he sighed. "Go home, Inumiyo. And wipe that ugliness from your face before someone sees you."

If he had hit her, she would have been happier.

 _Father's talking to me as grandmother does to mother._

Inumiyo had not been ready for this. The bite of scorn she had always thought appropriate for her mother, left a despicable taste in her mouth.

She hated herself for it, but tears were filling her eyes. They were brimming and spilling down her cheeks. The mortification of her display ran deep through her stomach, making her tremble before her father. He didn't seem to notice. Watching helplessly, Inumiyo let out a small gasp as Sesshomaru threw the stinking head off the path.

Through the swarm of flies that had burst into the air, she could see her father turning to go.

Apparently he had nothing left to say to her.

Only Jaken looked upon her. His bulging eyes were full of pity.

She wanted to scream.

Inumiyo almost called out when the imp turned and ran after his master.

Instead, she stood trembling, ringing her little hands in numb distress.

She wanted nothing more than to wash them.

Her father was leaving her, but she dared not follow.

He was many paces away when she heard the imp speak, "My l-lord, do you not think—"

But her father had the last cool word, "You need say nothing, Jaken. It seems what everyone says is true. I have an idiot for a daughter."

Heart beating like a rabbit's, Inumiyo hugged herself and crouched low to the ground.

They were simple words, but they cut deep.

"But...but I don't understand," she whispered. "It was a gift..."

The head's medley of rot and honeysuckle filled her nose then.

It filled her heart.

And drove her to a sob.

She cried hoping against hope that somehow her father would not hear her.

And yet...

...that he would still come at her tears.

He did not come.

Instead, it was her mother's servant, Hiru-baba, who came upon her.

And it was Hiru-baba who dried her tears.

* * *

 _Tokyo, 1989..._

* * *

"So you saw it all? Who were those brutes?"

"No…no, not exactly…"

Myoga's voice faltered as he tucked his little hands into his sleeves and blushed. Jaken nodded sagely and took a sip of his tea. They had set themselves up on the balcony, now waiting for what had seemed an eternity for their masters' return.

"You didn't enter with Inuyasha?" Jaken questioned.

The flea shook his head in shame and replied, "Well…no. I would have, of course! Had I thought he needed any help. As I saw it, Inuyasha's victory was assured!"

Jaken nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes. That is absolutely correct. Why put yourself in danger when you know the battle is surely won?"

"Exactly!" Myoga gave a little hop of enthusiasm. "Why Jaken, there are times I think I've misjudged you."

The imp gave a self-congratulatory chuckle and replied, "Oh ho, Myoga. I think we both know the secret to our longevity…"

There was a short pause. Then both imp and flea announced in unison, "Our foresight!"

Initially surprised at their agreement, neither of the little servants had a response for the other. Then without another word, they nodded in all seriousness at their own wisdom.

There had been many times Jaken had thought that the old flea was a fool for following a hanyou, but over the years, Sesshomaru-sama's brother had proven sturdier than anyone could have predicted.

And anyhow, Myoga was certainly a better companion than that Hiru. While the older flea may have had a misguided allegiance to the bastard son of his old master, the younger flea was downright insufferable in her inflated self-worth. Why, her mistress was only some remnant of a conquered family from the southern mountains. She may have been full _yokai_ , but Sesshomaru's mother had had Inuyua and that servant of hers under her heel for centuries. Who was Hiru to treat Jaken, the sole servant of her mistress' lord, with disdain?

He was someone!

She was no one!

The gall!

And even though it had not come to pass yet, one day, one day Jaken would be minister to his lord's kingdom.

 _That splendid day will come_ , he thought. _Sesshomaru-sama will not rest until he is able to claim his rightful place of pow—._

"Do you think," Myoga's words pulled Jaken out of his thoughts. "…Sesshomaru-sama will bring the girl, Rin, here with him? She always traveled with you. But the world has changed so much since then."

Had Jaken not developed a strong habit of thinking before speaking, he would have answered with a quick, "Of course!"

Instead he replied carefully, "Myoga, I cannot say what my master will do."

The old flea nodded in understand, his blind eyes blinking slowly.

They sat together then in silence for some time. In the space between conversation Jaken wondered what his master would do. After so many years, how would it be to see Rin in the flesh again? Jaken had been resigned to her death for so long, he was uncertain what it would be like to once again be in her presence.

 _She'll most likely be just as annoying_ , he thought resignedly.

A noise sounded from the hallway and both kappa and flea jumped.

"It seems we're about to find out," Jaken murmured, but Myoga was already packing up his things.

"I believe that's my cue!" the flea announced, swinging a little sack Jaken hadn't noticed until that moment, over his shoulder.

"Wait!" hissed Jaken. "Inuyasha may be coming. Won't you be going with him?"

"All the better reason to leave, you see," Myoga replied, tapping his head. "Those two brothers together are a deadly combination."

"Mmm yes, deadly," Jaken echoed.

"Heh! I may be blind, but I can tell which way the wind blows."

With that, the little flea jumped over the balcony's edge into the early morning air. The sun would be coming up soon, the _kappa_ knew. His master's return had come at last.

The low murmur of Sesshomaru's voice seeped out onto the balcony and Jaken creaked his bulbous eyes around toward the light of the living room. Sesshomaru was speaking to someone, but their presence was muted somehow. Myoga had warned him of this. She'd lost her scent, Jaken had been informed. He could not fathom how that had happened.

A fear of what he would see overtook him then. She must be the one with his lord now. She must have followed him home. A cold sweat broke out over Jaken's already clammy skin, and he scuttled through the balcony doors.

"Mmh, and this is where you live?"

Jaken stopped short at Rin's voice. He'd forgotten the sound of it. Her words peeled and scraped back the muddy film covering the true color of her voice within his memory.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru called.

The _kappa_ gulped.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so tired," murmured Rin's voice.

Jaken peaked around the couch and saw Rin, slightly taller, slightly thinner, and altogether more ragged than his memory, leaning against the hallway wall. Her eyes were clouded with sleep. Her hair was pressed in thick tangles against the wall. Her clothes were loose and soiled with battle.

Something in his master's expression while looking at the girl made Jaken nervous. But then Sesshomaru's eyes fell upon him, thin brows ticking up at the imp's hesitation, and Jaken's worries transformed into a different beast. Despite his feelings of shock at seeing Rin again, he knew his duties.

"Sesshomaru-sama! You've returned! And Rin! You have returned as—"

"Jaken," came his master's unyielding voice. "Set up a room."

Jaken bowed low, nodding repeatedly at his master's order. "Whatever you say, my lord. This lowly servant will do as you bid."

The words had just passed his nervous beak, when to his surprise, and it was hard to tell, but it seemed to Sesshomaru's surprise as well, Rin grumbled something beneath her breath, teetered over to the couch, and collapsed into sleep. Jaken stared for a moment taken aback by Rin's presumptuousness.

She hadn't even removed her shoes.

"Shall…shall I wake her, my lord?" he asked a moment later.

Sesshomaru did not look down at his servant. His eyes were on the girl asleep on the couch as he tapped his foot for Jaken to remove his shoe. Another prickle of worry danced over the imp's skin as he watched a frown slowly settle on his lord's delicate features.

Once Sesshomaru's dress shoes were neatly tucked way, Jaken opened his mouth to ask what he should do.

"My lord, would you have me—"

"Your presence grows tiresome, Jaken," Sesshomaru interrupted with his usual coolness. Then stepping into the living room, his legs making long silent strides, he said over his shoulder, "Make yourself useful for once."

Jaken shrank into himself at that, but with practiced determination he set to gathering up his many displeasures and did as he was told. As he left to prepare Rin's bedding, he turned to catch one last glimpse of his illustrious master. Sesshomaru was standing over the girl on the couch, hands deep in his dark silk trouser pockets. The only thing Jaken could make out of Rin now was her brown hair falling in tangles, pooling against the pristine white of the rug beneath her. His master's suit jacket was off, forgotten now, but his tie and collar were still tight against his throat.

His attention was fixed on the girl below him.

With each soft step deeper into the dark hallway, away from the light of the living room, Jaken tried to put the disquiet in his master's gaze from his mind.

He was long gone when Sesshomaru silently reach down to touch the sleeping girl beneath him, pulling a strand of her hair from between her lips.

...

Sesshomaru had never understood how Rin could sleep so soundly. There had been times in the deep of night, when the air had been heavy with croaks of frogs, and the black of human dreams that he had watched her sleep in just the same way. She would not wake to the danger or to the death he had, since childhood, been ever watchful for.

She would not wake to the death Sesshomaru himself presented and indeed cultivated.

Her soft, long breaths brushed over his ears. She lay before him on his couch, legs tucked up to her chest, face turned up smooth and still to his gaze. Mouth open, he could see the whites of her teeth. One slightly overlapping the other. The skin of her bottom lip was dry. The skin of her nose and chin was tinted pink from the blood she hadn't been able to scrub away. Blue bruises were beginning to rise as well—on the flesh of her arms and on the flesh of her thighs. Her skirt had bunched up around her hips, her skin prickling with goose bumps against his apartment's cool air. He'd removed her shoes himself, weighing the benefits of throwing them into the trash bin, before placing them by the door.

Sesshomaru sat still, contemplating the decisions he'd made over the past several hours. She was here.

Now.

With him.

Alone.

As small and as big as he'd remembered.

But there were differences. Of course there were differences. There had always been differences in Rin from one moment to the next. She was human. Time's touch left a different mark upon her than himself. Sesshomaru had never been able to discern whether time's presence was a stain upon her charm or the source of it.

Absently, tracing his mouth with his fingertips, he frowned and thought of what he would do next.

Would they leave the city? Would they stay? Despite his initial urge to leave for the country side, the possibility of Rin remaining unseen a true temptation, Sesshomaru knew that certain duties still bound him to Tokyo.

The _hanyou_ boy telling him of the _kitsune_ , Kuzumeha, aiding him, had been a truly unpleasant shock. She was not a memory he liked to relive. Their last encounter had left him thinking he would never hear from her again. He had been certain she would not be so foolish as to insert herself back within his business.

The vision of her face, changing as it had, still angered him. Her presumption was something he still could not forgive.

He would have to find her now. Talk to her. Most likely silence her.

And then there was his daughter's recklessness. It would have to be dealt with. Was her human with her now? His obstinance in the face of duty had made him careless during his breakfast with Inumiyo. He hadn't even thought to ask if the human was in Tokyo. He'd simply assumed if he told her to be silent, that she would follow his advice and no one besides himself and Inuyua would be the wiser.

To think, of all that useless woman's children it was his one and only that had strayed. Yes, he would have to make sure she did nothing to flaunt this affair of hers.

Once again, he would have to convince her of her folly.

Rin stirred before him, sighing. Sesshomaru's eyes slid from her open mouth to a patch of her lilac panties now peeking out from under her skirt. After a long moment he reached forward and pulled the fabric of her skirt down. For the briefest of seconds he let the backs of his fingers brush against her flesh.

She made a small sound, shifting into him, and he pulled away.

He sat forward then, eyes closed, head resting against his hand. Her presence was proving distracting.

She had no memory of him, he knew.

 _And still, she sleeps so deeply,_ he thought. _She knows nothing of me, yet she trusts..._

There had been moments in the car when her scentless silence had been all he'd thought of. Inuyasha and the _hanyou_ boy's chattering voices had danced around him, the arguments of his brother's offspring had cut into his ears as well as his patience, but all Sesshomaru had wanted to listen for were Rin's words.

Whatever they would be.

However small.

However soft.

However meaningless.

When his honorific finally passed her lips, plunging into his mind as a stone would through water, he'd closed his eyes. He'd known what was coming next. A fear had been lurking within his heart that she would not say his name. But in that moment, he knew she would say it for the first time, again, as she had always done.

The pleasure of her voice, so near, had been painful.

Its lilt and determination had pushed at his heart's boundaries in a way he did not like.

But now, in the silence of her sleep, it was easier to look upon her.

And without her scent, without all of the odd little intricacies and layers of human folly embedded within her presence, it was indeed easier. It seemed she had come back to him in pieces.

At times throughout the night, her state of fracture had disturbed Sesshomaru, but as the day came nearer, and the many passing moments he so seldom felt grew heavy upon him with importance, he knew she had given him a gift.

Only part of her slept before him.

The rest was hidden in places neither of them could reach.

And that was most likely for the better.

He had spoken little on their long walk to his city dwelling, the early morning darkness mitigated as it was by the ever-present lights of the city. She in turn, attempted to fill the silence, asking him questions it pained him to see she did not know the answers to.

The doctor had told him she did not want to remember.

Her ignorance of him was a choice.

Her screams on the recording still rang in his ears. He would have understood if she'd chosen to go with his brother. Even as he sat, watching her now, he barely understood her choice to follow him.

 _Why does she follow if she does not want to remember?_

Far below, he could hear the shouts and footsteps of the humans trekking across the cement spine of the city. They were creating a flow, a river of their own, toward their little aspirations and desires. The city was waking up. The sounds and smells of the day were beginning to creep up through the building toward them.

Decisions would have to be made.

Would he stay? Or would he go?

What would he let the others know of Rin?

The world was different now.

Smaller.

Unlike in the deep, sprawling forests of his past, there would be repercussions for what he did in this metal city.

Sesshomaru stood then, stepping over to the sleeping girl.

There were certain things he simply could not do.

With a careful deftness, he slid his hands beneath Rin's shoulders and into the crooks of her knees—his naked fingers becoming warm and slick with her scentless sweat. Rin gave a soft sigh as she turned toward him, her nose pressing into his chest. Sesshomaru took a breath at the touch, remembering, and slowly carried her through the apartment.

A small bedroll in the guest quarters was made up, its covers soft and plain at his feet. For all his searching over the past few days, he was not truly prepared for a visitor. Looking down on her, Sesshomaru was glad of his decision to move her. Rin's lashes were long against her cheeks. Her skin, as well as the air, was tinted with the memory of her blood.

Her blood.

Like a beacon from the distant wood of his youthful curiosity.

It was all he could smell of her now.

Everything else was a mask of other human and demon scents he held no care for.

Sesshomaru stood still above her in the darkness, thinking to himself.

He would leave her door open tonight. The thin thread of her blood's scent could keep his many thoughts company till morning came.

He would not push that away.

* * *

 _Three miles away..._

* * *

Hakuzo had been running for what seemed like hours. Weaving through the city, passing under webs of wires, slinking through black alleyways, trying to keep himself calm despite the suffocating knowledge that his partner was dead and that he had failed.

 _I have been discovered_ , he thought in anguish. _They know my face._

Since leaving the swimming pool, he'd been expending a great deal of energy masking his scent. The effort was causing a hot sweat to break out across his body. The beads of moisture rolling down his hairless scalp, blurred his vision, and stung his eyes. He felt as if his innards were burning from the green flames coursing through his veins. This magic was not meant to be done for so long.

But the girl was alive, and the great dog's brother had found her.

He had to maintain. He had to cover his tracks.

 _She's probably with the dai-yokai now_ , he worried.

 _Under his protection. Soon his brethren will know. He'll be after me for my attempt at his human's life, and everyone else will be after me for my failure. Oh why did it have to be this way?_

With a soft groan, Hakuzo hoisted himself over a chainlink fence. It's clangs of metal against metal resonated in his ears. For some reason he had the feeling he was being watched. By whom, he knew not.

 _It could be anyone at this point_ , he thought wildly.

"I'll be skinned and made a drum before the week is out!" he hissed to no one as his feet met the sidewalk beyond the alley.

Water streamed in a thin thread down the side of the building next to him. He had emerged between a noodle shop and a candy store, both now closed. Looking at the sweet shop's window display he saw it was filled to the brim with the ever popular Ninja Snacks brand. To his knowledge it was actually an enterprising field _kitsune_ who owned the junk food company.

The bright packaging and array of candies reminded Hakuzo of his now dead partner, Nogitsune.

 _The fool_ , he thought. _I told him to stay away._

He let his bald head fall against the glass of the candy store. Steam crept up through the glass without his notice. Nogitsune should of just killed the girl. Let the others be.

It had been half way through the fight when Hakuzo understood their imminent peril, but like a fool himself, he'd held out hope. In her moment of anger with Nogitsune, Soramichi had revealed to him his own death. Neither of the foxes, however had anticipated it would come so swiftly.

It had been the glint of his green flame off the water that jogged Hakuzo's memory of the omen. Nogitsune had been playing with the girls, throwing them around, like he had all the time in the world, as if they were doing a normal job, when the old fox had made up his mind to escape.

 _Nogitsune was destined to die this night_ , he thought. _But am I?_

The _inu-hanyou_ had surprised him greatly. His kin had been just as he'd expected—soft and supple. So many _yokai_ and _hanyou_ alike had been made weak by modern luxuries. So many had lost their blood lust, their ability to fight.

But this particular _hanyou_ apparently had not. When he pulled the sword from his back, tearing his skin, showering the pool with blood, teeth sharp, eyes burning wide and red, Hakuzo had known he was more. Inuyasha had been his name. And Inuyasha, a _hanyou_ , had brought the fight to quick end.

 _There is a reason,_ the old fox reminisced. _Inuyasha's name is known_.

Maybe it was the heavenly dog's blood that coursed through him, for he was no common _hanyou_.

To think on it now, he and Kuko had been lucky to have passed under his nose when they first came upon his village to attack the girl.

Slowly, the small fox turned and strode as inconspicuously as he could in the general direction of his motel. At first he had been uncertain as to whether he should go back, but after running for so long, and putting so much distance between himself and the dogs, he was more or less confident he would be safe in the dank little hole he'd found for himself and Nogistune weeks ago.

The only person to see the place was his partner's human whore. There was very little chance her presence would have revealed him.

The street was empty as he made his way past store fronts, over trolley tracks, and through desolate intersections. Above him the buildings loomed cold and dark. Their cement exteriors dripping warm veins of rain from the night's downpour. He could not help the feeling he was being watched from behind the many windows' black faces.

Hakuzo was uncertain as to what his next move should be. Kuko had gotten him tangled up in something much larger than either of them could have guessed. He'd always had a way of doing that.

The heat within his body was growing too painful to bear now. With each step, Hakuzo felt his resolve weaken. Looking down at his hands he saw they were shaking. The break in the air after the storm was no reprieve from the searing weight that was his magic. Had he run far enough? Should he let his scent free before he reached the haven that was his motel? Would his efforts even matter if he collapsed in the street, prone to anyone who would want to find him?

He knew what his decision had to be.

He wondered, if once he let go, he would faint from his fear alone.

With a final hiss of exertion, Hakuzo made his way over to an empty bus stop and sank onto the bench. After several deep, calming breaths, the fox closed his eyes and slumped forward. Tendrils of steam rose around him and he gave a whine of pain.

"Tomorrow..." he breathed. "Tomorrow I will know what to do."

Hakuzo was not expecting what came next.

A voice, high and laughing, replied from above, "Oh ho! My friend! I think not!"

There was a sudden crash, and then another immediately following as two objects slammed into the metal covering above his head. Hakuzo felt the entire structure shudder as he gasped and scrambled into the street. The wet pavement hissed under his palms, pebbles scraping against his skin.

"Who?" he cried. "Who are you?"

Before him stood three figures. Hakuzo's mind raced as his eyes roved over each man on top of the bus stop. All three, he could tell, wore masks to hide their _yoki_. But the fox magic that hid all modern demons from the human gaze had certain indicators for those who knew the craft. The one in the middle, he recognized almost immediately as a heavenly dog. Even with his hair blackened and his uncommonly short cut, Hakuzo could tell by the _yokai's_ demeanor that he was naturally powerful. He could also feel that the man was far larger than he appeared.

Heavenly dogs, Hakuzo knew, were giants among _yokai_. Their masks held a great deal. It would take a master to carve one.

The other two figures were something else however.

They were much smaller. More wild.

Edging further back, Hakuzo inspected the heavenly dog's two companions. Despite the dark sky and the warm weather, they both wore black sunglasses and matching black tracksuits. Unlike their companion, their hair was long, both having chosen to tie it back in a partial topknot.

They were dogs of some sort, he knew. The _inu-yokai_ between them was not their master, for they would have worn their hair as he did. One was crouching, breathing hard, mouth open. The other was standing tall, a long wooden bow hanging loose in his grip. His head was tilted to the side, brow furrowed in thought.

The glint of dawn off the mystery _yokai_ 's glasses gave Hakuzo an idea as to who and what they were. He preyed to _Inari_ that he was not right.

"Well, boys, we found him!" their leader laughed.

"Shin, I can smell him! I can smell him now!" the creature crouching low barked. He wiped his nose with his sleeve.

Shooting the short haired _inu-yokai_ a sour look, his companion leaned forward, bracing his hand on one knee, and replied, "Yes, brother. Good for you. I can smell his burning as well."

With a casual shift of his red blazer, the heavenly dog dropped down to the pavement. Unlike his companions, he was more brightly dressed. The supple leather of this shoes and the gold Rolex on his wrist betrayed his wealth.

"I don't know about you two," he called over his shoulder. "But I'm convinced our little fox friend smells of...betrayal..."

The demon with the bow, who Hakuzo now knew to be Shin, bared his teeth.

Below him his brother crowed, "Shigerumaru-sama, do you really mean that? You can smell the betrayal?"

"Brother!" Shin barked in excitement. "He told us he would find us something good on the hunt tonight."

The _inu-yokai_ smiled and turned, raising his hand, palm out to his companions, "I told you both our prey had a partner. Did I not? Where do you think the poor fox is?"

Hakuzo gulped and tried to think as quickly as he could. How could he possibly get out of this?

"I saw the aftermath myself," Shigerumaru continued.

"What did you see? What did you see?" the crouching _yokai_ asked.

"Oh Shou. Shou, it's quite a tale! The poor fox. So young. So virile. Such a future ahead of him! And to think he was left by his partner in the heat of battle!"

"What happened to him?" Shin pressed, peering over at Hakuzo. Even through his sunglasses, his gaze made the old fox shiver.

"He fought! He fought for his life! And even with all his bravery, all his power, he was still split in two by a..." Shigerumaru let the word hang.

"By a what?" Shin growled, stretching forward, intent on hearing the end.

The heavenly dog smiled, "My friend, I'm not sure if you want to know..."

"Tell us!" Shou cried. He slammed his fists in anguish against the bus stop cover. The force of his fists made the structure rattle and crack.

Hakuzo narrowed his eyes. The _inu-yokai_ was purposefully angering the two demons with him.

"My friends, this traitor's partner was split in two...by a _hanyou_."

Shin shook his head, and Shou reeled back at the word.

At their reactions, Shigerumaru spun back toward Hakuzo and laughed, "Not only that! The _hanyou_ was of a blasphemous mix. He was part human, part _inu-yokai_."

Hakuzo had no time before he felt something pierce his thigh just above his knee. He screamed, reaching for the arrow, only to flinch away in pain. The arrow's shaft rose wet and black, like some grotesque new limb, from his quaking leg.

"Traitor!" Shin roared. His voice had morphed into something lower, and ragged.

"Brother!" Shou wailed. "Oh why did you miss, brother?"

Shin whirled on him, shrieking, "Shut your mouth, Shou! I never miss!"

To Hakuzo's surprise, Shin notched another arrow and drew the bow string back, aiming straight for Shou.

"Take it back!" he barked.

From the side, Hakuzo could just make out the dark circles around his eyes. The bruised flesh spread ghastly and black from beneath his spectacles. With a pang of fear the fox realized exactly who the heavenly dog had with him.

" _Inugami_ ," Hakuzo wheezed. "True _inugami._ "

In wild desperation Hakuzo searched his surroundings. He was no fighter. He was a hider. He could disappear, he could mask, he could cloak what needed to go unseen, but what he could not do was battle an unknown heavenly dog and a pair of freed _inugami_.

Hakuzo watched carefully as Shigerumaru turned and waved angrily at Shin. He was imploring the creature to turn his wrath on Hakuzo and away from his brother. Shou, however, was not helping his cause. He seemed gleeful as he jumped up and down on the bus stop covering, egging his brother on.

"Shoot! I dare you! I'll catch it, if it doesn't miss me!"

Shin let out another cry, and Hakuzo felt his escape come upon him. The _inuyokai_ 's eyes were still turned away as the fox struggled to his feet and began to limp away. The magic was rising within him. He could feel the green flame begin to flicker. He had one chance to use it. If he could just set his fox fire aflame he could distract the dogs long enough to escape.

Limping, Hakuzo clutched at his leg, praying to _Inari_ for the strength to use his fire. His skin felt sticky with dried sweat. The sky above his head was growing lighter with the dawn. The _kitsune_ dared not look back. He hoped the grunts and curses of the fighting _inugami_ were the only things that followed.

A moment later, Shigerumaru's cries after him made his stomach shrivel with disappointment.

He wasn't ready. He was too weak to use his fox fire. He'd been a fool.

 _It's now or never_ , he thought in desperation.

With a cry of effort, Hakuzo pushed a rush of green flame out around him. He hoped it would be enough. The fire licked his skin as he dove for a nearby alleyway.

If he could just...

"Oh no you don't!" Shigerumaru's laugh rang out above him.

Hakuzo could only grunt as he felt something pierce his shoulder from behind. Looking down, he swore as the end of a _wakizashi_ blade slowly withdrew from his chest. The old fox fell forward against the building bordering the alleyway. Its cement scraped his scalp bloody as he crumpled to the ground.

He knew now this was the end.

Slowly, Hakuzo turned to face his killer.

Shigerumaru shook his arms and bounced on the balls of his feet as he prepared for his strike. Then he knelt down, leaning on one knee, and placed his short sword again Hakuzo's sweating throat.

"Do you like _Shingi_?" he whispered, pressing the _wakizashi_ blade against Hakuzo's throat. "Because I think _Shingi_ likes you."

Hakuzo gulped against the blade's tip and wheezed, "You're killing me because I've failed to kill the girl."

Shigerumaru narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment. Then slowly, he peaked over at the two _inugami_ snarling and tussling on the pavement.

"Give me another chance. I won't fail again," Hakuzo pleaded.

Holding his hands up, he wished for mercy.

"No no no," Shigerumaru's eyes were still on Shin and Shou as he continued in a hushed whisper. "You have me all wrong, my friend. See a dog can be tricky too. We have a greater role for you to play."

Hakuzo gulped again.

"Am I to live then?" he asked dubiously.

Shigerumaru gave a soft chuckle and removed _Shingi_ from the _kitsune_ 's throat.

"Well..." he sighed, drawing the word out with a smile.

The building's stone siding felt cool against Hakuzo's hairless scalp. He waited with baited breath for the heavenly dog's answer. Slowly, Shigerumaru lifted a hand to caress his cheek.

"I guess you live...if you survive."

Hakuzo frowned, not understanding. But before he could respond, the _inu-yokai_ cupped his chin and forced his jaw open.

"Open up!" Shigerumaru laughed, raising his sword.

The old fox screamed as he felt the cool blade pierce his tongue.

The blood flowed and burned his throat.

* * *

Preview: Chapter III

As We Were

 _"Do you like it?"_


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